Tag: termination

The majority of states in the U.S. follow the doctrine of "at-will employment," which means that an employer can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, except an illegal one, or for no reason, without incurring legal liability. Likewise, an employee is free to leave a job at any time for any or no reason with no adverse legal consequences. Even so, if your manager asks you to resign or offers you a choice between resigning and being fired, it is important for you to know your rights and understand your options, before you sign on the dotted line. Failure to do so might wind up costing you unemployment benefits, or result in other repercussions that could hinder your job search.

It’s Friday morning and there is an eerie feeling going around the office. People seem on edge, and your boss is communicating with you via sternly worded emails that are direct and to the point. Some of these emails may even criticize your recent job performance. You may even know that you’ve made a serious mistake, or you may have been the target of an unruly supervisor or manager who has made your life extremely difficult for weeks, months, or even years. All the signs add up to the last email of the day telling you to come up to the human resources manager’s office, where he or she informs you that your employment with the company is being terminated. What now?

We all need to move on to the next step in our careers at times. We might look for another job because our egos were bruised at our current gig, or we might jump ship for a better position. Best practice is to not burn bridges as we move from one company to the next.

It seems to happen more often, nowadays: people getting fired for something they posted on social media. Many seem to believe it's perfectly acceptable to put whatever they choose on their social media networks. After all, what about freedom of speech? As it turns out, tweets and posts aren't always protected by the First Amendment. Here are a couple of recent and noteworthy cases of employees being terminated for something they posted online.